by Mara Webb
“What was that about?” Fleur asked as she walked over to me.
“That was the sheriff,” I said. “He… I don’t feel well. I’m gonna go lie down and… your sister, we’re going to work together and…”
I wasn’t really putting on an act, I genuinely couldn’t get the words together to form a sentence. It helped me project the idea that I wasn’t feeling well, so Fleur escorted me back to the house that I’d slept in last night. I didn’t think to ask how she knew which building it had been.
Bryony, the old woman that had spoken to me at the dining table, was still sat in the same spot. She gave Fleur a nod of acknowledgement but didn’t speak a work to either of us.
“Are you going to be okay? You look really off, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone lose color in their face so fast,” Fleur said, clearly concerned.
“I fell out of a boat last night, smacked a tarmac road with my forehead yesterday afternoon… it’s probably a mix of those things,” I said. “I’ll speak to you again later.”
Would I? Was that true? She had a missing sister and I wanted to be the person that could set aside my own personal drama and help someone in need, but this was probably the most all-consuming drama I’d ever been a part of, and I wasn’t sure I could sweep it under the rug.
The old woman watched me walk through the kitchen and disappear back towards the bedroom. Was this all some horrible dream? I pushed open the door to the bedroom, rushed inside and closed it behind me. There was someone sitting on the bed. It was the woman from last night, the one that had brought me the tea and then walked out into the wind.
“You,” I said.
“Hello again,” she smiled. “You’re having a bad day it seems.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I agreed. “Who are you? You said you would tell me and, to be honest with you, I can’t have any more unanswered questions in my brain because I might explode.”
“My name is… not important right now, I don’t want you to be alarmed,” she said.
“You do realize that when you say that out loud to someone, they immediately become alarmed, right?” I grinned. It was hard not to see the funny side at this point.
“You’re not wrong. How are you feeling today?”
“This might be the worst day of my life, not to be super dramatic about it,” I said.
“There’s nothing wrong with being dramatic,” she smiled. “When the healer gets here, trust what she says.”
A knock at the bedroom door made me jump, and I turned around to pull it open.
“Sadie? I’m the healer, I’ve come to check you over,” a female voice whispered through the door. I had opened it just a crack, but pulled it wider so that she could come in. When I looked back, the woman on the bed had gone again. I was reaching my limit for weirdness today.
“Hey,” I said by way of greeting. She pushed the door closed and pulled out a small radio from her bag, set it down on the nightstand and turned up the volume so that we could hear the music. She turned it up a little more so that the device rattled slightly, vibrating in place as if it might wobble and fall over.
“This will stop us being heard,” she whispered conspiratorially. She pulled me towards the bed and sat cross-legged on the sheets facing me. “I know you’ve spoken with Miller.”
“Uh-huh,” I nodded, my forehead crinkled with confusion.
“Then you know that this is escalating. I have Kane in my custody, sort of, but I can’t keep him there much longer,” she explained, still in a hushed voice. Kane? It took me a few moments to put things together. Alright, it took a few minutes, all the while I just stared at her as the cogs in my brain whirred.
“Kane?” I repeated. Then it hit me. Kane, the IRS agent that had been sent to carry out an audit at the café, had arrived in Hallow Haven acting strangely. I hadn’t been there, but Effie had recounted the tale many times since it happened. It turned out that Kane was becoming a vampire, a fact that I was still overwhelmed by.
Effie had sent him away to a place that she referred to as ‘The Dark Island’ in the hopes that someone there would free him of the vampire problem, and we could send him back to mainland USA in one piece. If we didn’t, then we would have federal agents breathing down our necks about a missing person, and we couldn’t in good conscience send him on a plane before he was cured in case he started infecting people when he got home.
If the healer, this woman in front of me, was saying that she had Kane then it meant that I was on the Dark Island. Effie had sent Kane here because Greta had told her that there was a good witch on the island that could help, that this mystery witch was working undercover to keep things under control as the island was overrun by dark magic.
But now I was here. So was Miller. The look on my face made it clear that I had understood where I was.
“Stay calm,” the healer said. She had her mousy-brown hair pulled back into a tight bun and was wearing a long, floral dress just like mine. Was it a uniform around here? Everyone looked so similar, it was getting hard to tell them apart. “I have Kane, I’ve made contact with Miller since his arrival, and I am also aware of the missing woman.”
“You know about Holly?” I asked.
“Yes. Fleur has been asking around and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by some of the elder witches. This place is dangerous, you need to tread very carefully,” she explained. “Look, today is Beltane, it is a big deal in our calendar. I need to get you off this island, ideally with Miller and Kane, but you are the priority. You can’t stay here, Sadie.”
“Why is Miller here?” I asked. As the words came out of my mouth, I realized that it was a stupid question. This woman was telling me we were all in danger, Miller’s travel plans were hardly top priority.
“He came to find a way out,” she said.
“Way out of what?” I pressed.
“He told me that the werewolf in him was too dangerous, that he wanted it gone,” she said. “We barely had time to discuss it before he was discovered and now… well things have escalated.”
Wait, what?
9
“I will tell the woman downstairs that you are to rest. I will put strict instructions on the door that explain that you are not to be disturbed,” the healer explained. “Then you are to leave through that door.” She pointed to the door which led to the outside.
“Then what?” I asked.
“Walk out towards the sand, it’s not too far,” she whispered. “When you get there, turn right. There is a hut nestled in the woodland that borders the beach, you will find a building and I will meet you there.”
I had a thousand questions, but she was already writing ‘do not disturb’ on a large piece of paper that she had pulled from thin air. I had to hope that she was really the good witch that I thought she was, the conversation about her that I’d had with Greta had been so brief that I couldn’t be sure I’d heard enough details to follow this stranger’s instructions.
“When I close this door,” the healer whispered, leaning closer, “you run.”
She snatched the radio from the nightstand, switched it off, and rushed out of the door into the house. I heard her attaching the sign to the outside of the bedroom door and I knew that I needed to move. I still couldn’t quite imagine that Daphne, the woman that had prepared a warm bath and breakfast for me, was into dark magic. But looks could be deceiving.
I pushed open the door to the outside, closed it behind me, and looked out at the wall of trees that I was now facing. I was still barefoot, a fact that had slipped my mind when I had been walking around town on the cobbles. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen anyone wearing shoes the whole time I’d been here. Even Miller had been barefoot.
Smooth cobblestones were one thing but walking across the forest floor with nothing on my feet was another.
I was surprised by the softness of the dirt. I had been expecting to step on twigs and stones, but all I could feel was the warm earth. I looked over my shoulder every few steps,
would someone come looking for me? When the healer had told me that this was a dangerous place, what did she mean? What would happen if I didn’t get away from here?
Soon I could smell the salty air that let me know the beach was close. Golden light filtered in through the trees ahead and I could see the sparkling water in the distance. As soon as I stepped onto the sand, I turned right. Sure enough, there was a small building tucked into the woods and I ran across the sand to get there.
With one final check over my shoulder, I reached up to knock on the door. My knuckles hadn’t made contact with the wood, when it opened, and I was pulled inside. Miller had thrown his arms around me and kicked the door shut with his heel as he held me close.
“You have some explaining to do,” I mumbled into his chest. Despite my own annoyance about his disappearing act, and the fact that he was seemingly engaged and getting married tomorrow, it felt good to be locked in his embrace again.
“I know,” he replied.
“Did you really come here to get some sort of werewolf cure?” I asked, struggling against his body to push him back. I wanted him to look me in the eye and tell me what was going on. He let out a sigh and began to pace up and down the room.
I hadn’t taken a second to look around after being pulled into the building, but it reminded me of Effie and Kate’s house. There were paintings of the moon cycle hanging from the walls, crystals on shelves and strange lamps that illuminated the room with a soft, orange glow.
“Yeah, and I know you probably have some opinions about it and that maybe I should have spoken to you first, but—”
“Someone came to your house, right?” I interrupted. “From The Bureau. I saw her at Ryder’s place too.” I saw him tense at the mention of Ryder’s name. “I’m not supposed to have two guardians, that’s why she’s here.”
“I don’t want to lose you. Do you think I have any hope of being the one that she picks for you if I am still turning into some giant animal every month? Huh?” he said, exasperated. “I injured you, you got scratched and if he hadn’t shown up then I don’t know what could have happened.”
Ryder’s weather control magic had gone wrong, and he’d summoned a full moon weeks before it was due. Miller had shifted right in front of me, and I’d had to run to draw him away from a hotel full of people.
“So, you came here for me?” I asked.
“Yes. I was desperate, and clearly desperate people don’t think things through before they do something,” he replied, slumping on the back of a plump sofa. “No one talks about this island out in the open, it’s all rumors and mystery. How was I to know what was going on until I saw it for myself?”
“But what is going on? How are you getting married tomorrow?” I asked.
The door opened again, and the healer walked inside. She slid three bolts across to lock us in with her, then turned to face me. “We have work to do,” she announced.
“I want an answer first,” I insisted. I pierced Miller with a look.
“The engagement,” the healer said. “I assume that’s what you are talking about.” I nodded. “It’s not what it looks like, Sadie.”
“So I’ve heard,” I complained.
“This is an island of women that are fueled by dark magic,” she began. She stepped away from the door, hung her bag on a hat stand and walked towards a small kitchen area. “If I had been the first one to see him on the beach when he arrived then it would be a different story.”
She set about filling an old kettle with water from the faucet and turning on the heat on the back burner. Once the kettle was warming on the stove, she turned back to us.
“When your friends brought Kane over, I saw them approach and I was able to bring him straight here. The vampire issue is, for now, dealt with,” she smiled. “I mean, his vampire issue is dealt with, but obviously he was bitten by somebody and that somebody is still at large.”
“Great,” I said, sarcastically.
“It seemed that when he came to, he got up and went for a little walk though,” she sighed. “So now Kane is in a similar situation to your friend here.”
“And what is that situation exactly?” I pushed.
“An arranged marriage,” she replied. If my eyes could have burst out of my head like a cartoon character, they would have.
“Back up, it sounds like you just said…” I struggled to bring myself to repeat the words.
“Arranged marriage, that’s right,” she nodded. “When a man comes to the island, whether they wash up here by mistake like you did, Sadie, or travel here under the impression that they can utilize dark magic for their own good and then just wander off back home, they usually get stuck here.”
She cast a disparaging look in Miller’s direction and I saw him smile at her.
“Hey, in my defense I thought that it was a totally reasonable assumption that it would work,” he laughed.
“I’m glad you can see the funny side!” I complained. “So, Kane and Miller are both being held here to marry some random witch?”
“You got it!” the healer said, turning to deal with the now whistling kettle behind her. She opened up a cupboard and brought down three mugs to make us each a drink. “Well Kane is technically already married, but Miller still has a chance!”
“Yeah, but the point of sending Kane here was to get the vampire germs out of him, right?” I asked.
“Vampire germs?” Miller chuckled.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t speaking in the vernacular that everyone else seems to know,” I grunted at him, my arms beginning to gesture expressively as I ranted. “As I was saying, he came here to be cured, or whatever you want to call it, so that he could go back to his office and avoid us all getting arrested for killing him! Right?”
“Yes, which is why he needs dragging away from his new bride and putting on a boat away from here,” she agreed.
“Dragging? You make it sound like he wouldn’t come willingly,” I said, smiling at the ludicrous thought that he actually wanted to stay.
“He has grown attached to his wife, call it Stockholm Syndrome,” Miller explained.
“Are you kidding?”
“No,” Miller replied.
“Why are you going through with this? I don’t understand why you have agreed to marry a stranger, I just…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what to say anymore.
“This isn’t like any place you’ve been to before,” the healer said. “They use magic to keep people compliant, to lure the guys here and trap them. Miller came here willingly, and your friends brought Kane here, but they have likely been given some sort of potion or put under a spell. It takes away your will to resist.”
“Someone poisoned you?” I asked, looking at Miller. I briefly recalled having drank something from a total stranger the night I arrived, and then I’d eaten at the table with the others this morning.
“I think so, but they also made threats,” Miller explained. “They know I have a family. I don’t talk about them much, but—”
“You have nieces, I remember,” I sighed. “Okay, so how do we get out of this? What’s the plan?”
“Miller is strong enough to be able to realize what’s happening to him, so that’s something at least. We have to get you off this island,” the healer said. “Once you are far away from this place, then I will set about trying to find Holly. If the rumors are true then, well, we just need to find her.”
I set down the cup that she handed to me and gave Miller a look that prompted him to do the same. If someone on this island was poisoning people, we really shouldn’t take any chances.
“Rumors?” I asked. Looking at both Miller and the healer for a response.
“They practice ancient magic here, which means that they believe our powers are given to us from a higher being. How did people used to appease the gods?” she asked, eyeing me to take a guess.
“Er… prayer? Offerings? Acts of service?” I shrugged.
“Sacrifice,” M
iller said. “Today is a sacred day in their calendar, so they think a sacrifice made today will have the most impact.”
“I have a feeling you aren’t talking about animal sacrifice here,” I groaned.
“As far as I knew, they hadn’t selected anyone for the ceremony,” the healer said. “But things change. I try to keep one ear to the ground but if there is any chance that they suspect that I’m not on board with their practices then they could have kept me out of the loop.”
“So, you think they’ve picked Holly?” I asked.
“It’s possible,” she agreed. “But you have to understand that now you’re here, you become the better option. You are from a powerful bloodline, Sadie. We have to get you away from this island.”
I don’t think I would ever forgive myself for getting on that stupid boat. I couldn’t just leave the island though, there was too much happening, and I couldn’t turn a blind eye. Miller had been threatened, the IRS guy was still here, and a missing woman could be about to be murdered by a bunch of crazy people.
“We find Holly together,” I said.
“Sadie, you can’t be here. If anything happens to you…” he sighed, stepping closer to me.
I was distracted by movement behind him and noticed that a fourth person had entered the room. I couldn’t see where she had come from this time, but I recognized the woman as the one that had given me the teacup, the one that had walked out into the night. She was smiling at me.
“You’re in on this?” I asked her. “The more people we have on our side to help find Holly, the better I guess.”
Miller and the healer looked at each other, then back at me.
“Who are you talking to?” Miller asked. I pointed over his shoulder and they both turned around. I watched them look in the direction of the woman behind them and she smiled at me.
“Sadie, they can’t see me,” she replied.
“But why?” I asked. Miller’s concern was evident on his face. I knew he could see ghosts, he had spoken to Greta plenty of times, so if this woman was a ghost, then why was she invisible to him?